Today in history: June 12

Below:

Today is Sunday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2005. There are 202 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 12, 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.

On this date:
In 1665, England installed a municipal government in New York, formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

In 1776, Virginia’s colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.

In 1838, the Iowa Territory was organized.

In 1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.

In 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss.; he was 37. (In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in prison; he died in 2001.)

In 1967, the Supreme Court struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

In 1978, David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six Son of Sam .44-caliber killings that had terrified New Yorkers.

In 1979, 26-year-old cyclist Bryan Allen flew the manpowered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.

In 1987, President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

Ten years ago: The Supreme Court dealt a potentially crippling blow to federal affirmative action programs, ruling Congress was limited by the same strict standards as states in offering special help to minorities. Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady, rescued after being shot down over Bosnia, was treated to lunch at the White House and a hero’s welcome at the Pentagon.

Five years ago: The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, said patients cannot use a federal law to sue HMOs for giving doctors a financial incentive to cut treatment costs.

One year ago: Gunmen firing from a car killed Iraq’s deputy foreign minister (Bassam Salih Kubba). Suspected militants killed an American in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Former President Ronald Reagan’s body was sealed inside a tomb at his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., following a week of mourning and remembrance by world leaders and regular Americans.